Journeyman

San Francisco shifts shapes nicely, and there’s sufficient tension in the pilot to keep our nerves strung out, and since executive producers Kevin Falls and Alex Graves are West Wing veterans, it’s no surprise that the characters pass for adults.

Journeyman has a decent hook.

An overly complicated pilot had me feeling that I, too, would like to time-travel, if not actually fast-forward, but a more straightforward second episode made me decide not to cancel my subscription just yet.

The dramatic structure is overorganized around the linear detective-ing, and the show's too Dan-centric without a "Quantum Leap"-like partner to spice things up.

It certainly looked good on paper. Alas, like some seductive Internet suitor, Journeyman seems perfect until he actually shows up, weedy and uncertain, at your door. In an effort to keep things grounded in "real life," as opposed to groovy sci-fi counterculture, writer-producer Kevin Falls relies on an earnestness that grows irritating.

Journeyman doesn't do anything especially interesting with its time-twisting premise. It's competently produced, but unless you have a tremendous amount of affection for McKidd left over from his work as the insane Lucius Vorenus on HBO's "Rome," it's skippable.

The only thing dull, disappointing Journeyman can do is lower our pulse rates to ready us for beddy-bye.